Trapped worker rescued from rubble after construction accident in Kentucky

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Firefighters in Kentucky's largest city rescued a person trapped under rubble Thursday in an hourslong operation at a construction site near the city's downtown.

The rescue was shown live on local Louisville television stations hours after the construction worker fell into a void and some debris fell on top of him around noon on Thursday. Paramedics were on hand to place the worker onto a stretcher, cover him with a blanket and transport him to an ambulance under bright lights set up to assist the rescue.

One rescue worker patted the worker on the back as he was being hoisted out.

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg praised the rescue team for having "saved the life of an individual who was in grave jeopardy all day today."

Greenberg said rescue workers had an "incredibly difficult trench rescue." He said the team at the Louisville fire department "shined again today and rescued this individual" who was transported to University of Louisville Hospital.

Louisville Fire Chief Brian O'Neill reported earlier that the worker had been speaking with rescuers but couldn't move. The worker was located about 10 to 12 feet (3 to 3.7 meters) below ground, O'Neill said.

After the rescue, O'Neill said the construction worker was part of a demolition team working at the site and fell into a "void space."

"All kinds of rubble and dirt and rock completely buried this individual," he said, leaving him not just stuck but "completely buried."

The team - specialized in trench rescue and confined space rescue - arrived within minutes and "they were able to talk to him," said O'Neill. "He got very fortunate that he had a little bit of a void space around him. So he was able to breathe."

Rescuers continued to work to free the worker Thursday evening after night fell. Officials had a crane and ladders going into the hole, which was several feet wide.

The fire chief said the worker was buried and pinned in place by gravel, dirt and large chunks of concrete, which required them to dig out the debris by hand, clearing the area around the man's arms and chest so he could receive medical aid.

There were five other workers at the scene when the man fell. They were working at the site of a former corrections building that is being demolished to make way for a medical campus.

The fire chief called it a "very long, very tedious, very slow-going process to do it safely, to make sure that you do not cause additional injury to the individual."

"All credit goes to the firefighters here in Louisville," O'Neill said. "The men and women on the Louisville Fire Department that got here, used their skills, used their talents, used their just absolute tenacity to get in there, dig that person out."

Earlier this week just a few miles away, a Louisville manufacturing plant exploded, killing two workers and damaging dozens of nearby homes. The cause of the explosion is not yet known.